Told in retrospect, primarily from the male protagonist's point of view, this is a tale of desire gone wrong told by unreliable narrator Mike Hayes, whose obsessive love for Verity Metcalf results in heartbreak and murder. Crave is a secret sex game concocted by Mike and Verity, and when "V" tires of the game and cuts it off, Mike chooses his own interpretation of her actions. As she goes on with her life, Mike becomes increasingly delusional and eventually targets Verity's new husband as the source of his pain and suffering. The primary narrator, actor Nick Hendrix of Midsomer -Murders, is superb; he makes what is obviously an unreliable narrator sound reasonable. -VERDICT Recommend to fans of A.J. Finn's The Woman in the Window, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us, and books by JP Delaney, Gillian Flynn, and B.A. Paris-and don't forget Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. ["Though the ending will be predictable for avid thriller fans, the journey makes for a compulsive read": LJ Xpress Reviews 4/6/18 review of the Farrar hc.]-Sandra C. Clariday, Cleveland, TN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Here's a changea psychological thriller in which a man is the crazy one.Michael Hayes made it through a childhood of poverty, abuse, and misery to what was, for him, the pinnacle of happinesshis eight-year love affair with Verity Metcalf, a girl he met at Bristol University. The centerpiece of their intensely passionate connection was a game they invented called the Crave. The pair would separate at a bar and wait for a man to hit on her; it never took long. From across the room, Michael would watch for the signal. When she touched her silver eagle necklace, he "would push through the mass of people, pulling at the useless man drooling over her, and ask him what he thought he was doing talking to my girlfriend. And because I am useful-looking in that tall, broad way, and because V likes me to lift weights and start all my days with a run, they would invariably back off with their hands in front of their faces." Having dispatched the hapless patsy, they would sometimes head to the bathroom to have sex. All is going well until Michael takes a temporary job in the U.S. in order to make a lot of money quickly, working toward his master plan of retiring by 45. By the time he returns to England, things have gone awry. One of the first pieces of mail he receives is an invitation to V's wedding. He's only upset for a moment, excited to realize this is just one step in Crave, the most daring one ever. "Part of me doesn't want to write it all down like this, but my barrister says I must," he explains.Which is worsean emotionally disturbed murderer or a woman with a fierce libido? Hall's U.S. debut is designed to show just how much trouble society has answering that question. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This toxic tale of obsession marks the author's American debut. Although badly damaged by a brutal childhood, Mike Hayes has managed to make a success of himself. What holds him together is Verity Metcalf. He remakes his body to her specifications, and he creates a magnificent home that conforms to her ideals. He has every expectation that they will spend the rest of their lives together in exclusionary bliss, for what and who else would they need? When Verity abruptly marries an even wealthier older man, Mike believes it's all just part of a twisted game they used to play and bides his time until he can reclaim her. Hall brings the unreliable narrator to new heights in this disturbing narrative while subtly planting the seed in the reader's mind that Verity, damaged by her own childhood issues, may be feeding Mike's mania to suit her own ends. For fans of Nabokov's Lolita, Highsmith's Ripley tales, or Christine Mangan's recently published first novel, Tangerine (2018).--Murphy, Jane Copyright 2018 Booklist

THE OUTSIDER, by Stephen King. (Scribner, $30.) When police officers arrest a small-town English teacher and Little League coach for murder, the case looks watertight. But this isn't a police procedural, it's a Stephen King novel; so nothing, of course, is what it seems. OUR KIND OF CRUELTY, by Araminta Hall. (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26.) In this searing, chilling sliver of perfection about a toxic relationship, the man is the crazy psychopath - or is he? That doubt lingers all the way through the stunning final pages of a book that may well turn out to be the year's best thriller. SAVING CENTRAL PARK: A History and a Memoir, by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers. (Knopf, $30.) The inspiring story of how one woman, in the face of considerable resistance, created a partnership to privately augment the funding and management of Manhattan's beloved park, rescuing what had become "a ragged 843acre wasteland." ROBIN, by Dave Itzkoff. (Times/Holt, $30.) A generous, appreciative biography of Robin Williams by a New York Times culture reporter. The author, who had access to Williams and members of the comedian's family, is an unabashed fan but doesn't shy away from the abundant messiness in his subject's personal life. INSEPARABLE: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous With American History, by Yunte Huang. (Liveright, $28.95.) In Huang's hands, the story of the conjoined twins Chang and Eng is as much an account of 19th-century American culture as a tale of exploited individuals who themselves became exploiters. SABRINA, by Nick Drnaso. (Drawn and Quarterly, $27.95.) This graphic novel is a Midwestern gothic tale for our times, recounting the story of a woman's disappearance and murder, seen through the eyes of her bereaved boyfriend as he watches the trolls and conspiracy theorists dissect her death online. It's a shattering work of art. SOME TRICK: Thirteen Stories, by Helen DeWitt. (New Directions, $22.95.) DeWitt's manic, brilliant new collection explores her interest in "fiction that shows the way mathematicians think." Populated by genW'ršÃ­š? iuses and virtuosos, the stories are zanily cerebral " and proceed with fractal precision. PATRIOT NUMBER ONE: American Dreams in Chinatown, by Lauren Hilgers. (Crown, $27.) This deeply reported account tracks an immigrant couple's struggle to remake their lives in America while staying connected to their hometown in China. SECRET SISTERS OF THE SALTY SEA, by Lynne Rae Perkins. (Greenwillow, $16.99; ages 8 to 12.) An exquisite summer story about a girl's first beach vacation, in which she discovers the wonders of the ocean and shifts in sisterly bonds. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books

In Hall's dark, disturbing thriller, reader Hendrix presents a chilling portrayal of narrator Mike Hayes, a London banker convinced that the love of his life is toying with him by marrying an ultra-wealthy, socially prominent ad man. For years, Verity "V" Wilton has been Mike's muse and his partner in a creepy game of seduction they call the Crave. Prior to her wedding, V stopped communicating with Mike, but, as convincingly interpreted by Hendrix, he remains too infatuated with her to accept her rejection as anything but an invitation to play the game. Reader Matsuura's V sounds initially polite when confronted by Mike, then bemused and finally troubled. Hendrix has a bit of fun with Angus Metcalf, V's groom, making him sound fatuous and elitist, while Matsuura gives voice to several other women, including V's icy upper-class mother and a needy business associate of Mike's who tries to push herself into his life. But it's Hendrix's relentless, intensely focused Mike that turns Hall's novel into something more than just another exercise in psychological suspense. A MCD hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.